# A Transdiagnostic Study of Emotional Impulsivity in Suicidal Ideation and Behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $838,010

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) is an important public health problem. This is particularly true in two
serious mental health disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) and major depressive disorder
(MDD), in whom 5% and 1.9% die by suicide over their lifetimes, a rate 100 times higher than in the general
population. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying SIB is therefore critical to address this issue.
Recently, we found that a questionnaire-based measure (the UPPS-P) of emotionally based impulsivity
(urgency) is highly elevated with suicide risk in SSD (d = 1.13) and was correlated with suicidal ideation and
lifetime suicide attempts. We also found that high levels of SIB in SSD were associated with reduced activation
in putative urgency circuitry during an urgency proxy fMRI task. These regions included right dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex, right medial prefrontal cortex, right rostral anterior cingulate, right superior temporal gyrus,
and right middle cingulate. Activation in most of these regions correlated with lower levels of urgency. Prior
work in SSD also implicates the frontal pole and left lateral orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in higher levels of
urgency. We propose a transdiagnostic study to examine the role of urgency and its neural circuitry in
these high-risk populations. We plan to leverage prior collaborations among NYU Grossman School of
Medicine, Nathan Kline Institute, and Weill Cornell Medicine to enroll 80 people with SSD and 80 people with
MDD. These individuals will be stratified into high and low SIB groups within each diagnostic group based on
Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS; 40 per SIB group/diagnosis). 20 Healthy Volunteers will be
enrolled to provide normative imaging data. Those in the high SIB group will have at least one lifetime actual or
aborted or interrupted suicide attempt and a history of preparatory acts for suicide attempt over the past 3
years or 2+ lifetime suicide attempts. Those in the low SIB group will have at most passive suicidal ideation
lifetime. Participants will receive interviews, questionnaire measures of impulsivity (including urgency),
cognitive testing, and an MRI scan. This approach will allow us to his approach will allow us to highlight that
there is higher negative urgency (Hypothesis 1), lower fMRI BOLD activation in specific neurocircuits
(Hypothesis 2), and lower cortical thickness (Hypothesis 3) in those with high SIB transdiagnostically.
Moreover, in exploratory analyses we will examine the relationship between SIB and resting state functional
connectivity (RSFC) in urgency-related neurocircuitry in both SSD and MDD. We will determine the neural
circuits affected in transdiagnostic patients with elevated NU, identifying the ideal regions to target using
neuromodulation and other neuroscience-informed therapies, with the aim of reducing NU and ultimately, SIB.
By establishing the relationship between NU in transdiagnostic ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10856249
- **Project number:** 1R01MH136161-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** MATTHEW J HOPTMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $838,010
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10856249

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10856249, A Transdiagnostic Study of Emotional Impulsivity in Suicidal Ideation and Behavior (1R01MH136161-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10856249. Licensed CC0.

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